Lee Odden

BIGLIST of 50 Top Marketing Blogs for 2019 – Martech Edition

Lee Odden on Jan 7th, 2019     BIGLIST Marketing Blogs, Digital Marketing

top marketing blogs

During my marketing conference travels I was asked a curious question: Are blogs still a thing in marketing?

In my B2B marketing world, blogs are core to successful content, search, social and influencer marketing. It seems the business world agrees. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth ongoing study of blogging and social media reported in 2018 that 53% of Fortune 500 companies have a corporate blog (an 11% increase over 2017) and 55% of the Inc 500 companies are blogging,

Blogs are still an effective part of marketing however it can also be argued that many of them are not well maintained or updated very often. But here’s the thing: There’s more useful knowledge about marketing being shared than ever before, so where can marketers find the best marketing blogs to follow?


BIGLIST of 50 Top Marketing Blogs for 2019 – Martech Edition
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Lee Odden

Explore, Experience, Engage: 6 Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2019

Lee Odden on Jan 3rd, 2019     Digital Marketing

digital marketing trends 2019

With the excitement of every new year comes a new batch of marketing trends and predictions. Marketers all over the world are pondering what trends, tactics and technologies they need to focus on in order to attract, engage and convert towards reaching their marketing and business goals?

From one year to the next, there are often a mix of new trends, technologies and consumer behaviors combined with enduring best practices that marketers have yet to fully adopt. This year is no different.

As I contemplated the evolution of our own marketing efforts for clients reconciled with research on top marketing trends for 2019, I found a concentration of interest in a few specific areas like video, voice, AI and influencer marketing as well as a long tail of sorts ranging from AR/VR to camera marketing to visual search.


Explore, Experience, Engage: 6 Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2019
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Ashley Zeckman

TopRank Marketing’s Top 6 B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions & Trends to Watch in 2019

Ashley Zeckman on Dec 26th, 2018     Digital Marketing, Influencer Marketing

B2B Influencer Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2019

How many of you can count the number of times you’ve purchased a product or made a decision based on a recommendation from a friend, acquaintance, review on the web or a celebrity endorsement? I’d venture to guess that most of you would say: “Too many to count.”

That’s because we all rely on advice from others to help us make sense of a complex world where we don’t always have all of the information we need to make a decision.

Influencer marketing has been around for ages (literally), but it’s only begun to build steam within the B2B world over the past few years. The good news is that for many, B2B influencer marketing is still in its infancy—which means there are plenty of opportunities to begin implementing influencer marketing today.


TopRank Marketing’s Top 6 B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions & Trends to Watch in 2019
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Caitlin Burgess

From Our Marketing Family to Yours, Happy Holidays, Marketers!

Caitlin Burgess on Dec 25th, 2018     B2B Marketing, Digital Marketing

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The smell of pine, cinnamon, and fresh-baked cookies are in the air. The jingle bells are ring-ting-tingling. And we’re all reflecting on months past and looking ahead to what the new year will bring.

2018 was quite a year for the TopRank Marketing team. We had the pleasure of working with an incredible book of clients—both longtime partners and new favorites. We welcomed new incredibly smart and talented team members, and said goodbye to some who went on to make their marks on different industries and brands. And 2019 looks awesomely bright, as we gear up for more projects and grow our team.

To celebrate the year, the holiday season, and each other, the TopRank Marketing team enjoyed a few days of festive fun. Take a peek!


From Our Marketing Family to Yours, Happy Holidays, Marketers!
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Alexis Hall

5 Common Digital Marketing Data & Analytics Challenges and How to Start Solving Them

Alexis Hall on Dec 10th, 2018     Digital Marketing

The volume and velocity of the data at our fingertips today has the power to transform the way we do marketing. Armed with the right data about our target audience, we can reach them at the right time, in the right place, with the best tailored messages. Given the deluge of marketing messages inundating consumers and B2B buyers at every moment, it’s critical that your marketing messages be the most relevant in order to break through the clutter.

However, many of us still aren’t using data to its full potential. Only 30% of B2B marketers use data to inform decision-making. That’s because harnessing data is hard. Over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated every day, across so many different people, channels, devices, and technologies. And nearly 50% of marketers say they don’t have the the right people, processes, and technologies in place to make use all of that data to make an impact.


5 Common Digital Marketing Data & Analytics Challenges and How to Start Solving Them
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Joshua Nite

Next-Gen Lead Gen: How to Refine Your Marketing to Get More B2B Leads

Joshua Nite on Dec 3rd, 2018     Content Marketing, Digital Marketing

How to Refine Your Marketing to Get More Leads

A few days ago, I was watching a 2005 episode of Doctor Who with my nine-year-old. He saw a strange artifact in a character’s hand. “What’s that thing?” he asked.

“An iPod,” I responded. “It’s like a smartphone, but it could only play music and had a black-and-white screen. No, no touchscreen. It held a LOT of music, though! Like hundreds of CDs! Okay, so a CD is…”

The point being: You kids need to get off my lawn.

Okay, the actual point being: Technology has changed fast in the past decade, and what used to be mind-blowing is now laughably obsolete. That’s doubly true in B2B marketing. We have the tools and tech to do amazing, iPhone-XS-Max-quality B2B lead generation.


Next-Gen Lead Gen: How to Refine Your Marketing to Get More B2B Leads
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Lee Odden

25 Influential Women in Digital Marketing Who Rocked and Inspired in 2018

Lee Odden on Nov 28th, 2018     Digital Marketing

25 Women Digital Marketing

The digital marketing industry is like no other, and one of the great joys of publishing a top marketing blog is the opportunity to shine a light on top talent. People who are doing great work, inspiring others to do great work and making a difference in marketing.

Working in this industry over the past 20 years has provided numerous opportunities for me to connect with, learn from and be inspired by incredibly talented marketers. Many of them women.

And so, for the ninth year in a row, TopRank Marketing is publishing it’s annual influential women in digital marketing list.


25 Influential Women in Digital Marketing Who Rocked and Inspired in 2018
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Caitlin Burgess

Giving Thanks: What the TopRank Marketing Team is Thankful For

Caitlin Burgess on Nov 22nd, 2018     Digital Marketing, TopRank Agency News

TopRank Marketing Gives Thanks

For centuries, Thanksgiving has been an American tradition, bringing families and friends together for a day of feasting, gratitude, and—most importantly, in my opinion—unity.

For the TopRank Marketing team, it seems that every day is Thanksgiving.

Each day, I have the privilege to see team members engaging and laughing. I see huddling and collaborating as everyone works hard to do their best work to not only drive results for our clients, but also lift themselves and other team members up. I see constant praise for good work or lending a helping hand. I see unity.

TopRank Marketing Team Gives Back

So, in the spirit of TopRank Marketing tradition, I’ve asked team members to share what they’re most thankful for in work and in life. Here’s what many had to say.


Giving Thanks: What the TopRank Marketing Team is Thankful For
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Lane Ellis

How to Optimize Customer Experience with AI – Top Tips from Microsoft’s Purna Virji

Lane Ellis     Digital Marketing, Pubcon

Microsoft's Purna Virji at Pubcon Las Vegas 2018 Photo by Lane R. Ellis

Purna Virji, senior manager of global engagement at Microsoft, has spoken at the Pubcon conference several times over the years, but the main stage presentation she gave yesterday in Las Vegas was her first time taking a deep look at the ever-evolving artificial intelligence landscape and how it can bolster customer experience.

“When it comes to optimizing the customer experience, design for conversation from the start. Remember, the most important thing for the user is convenience,” Purna recently told our CEO Lee Odden in his Pubcon preview highlighting nine top speakers at the event.

Is Voice Search Living Up To The Hype?

Purna began by asking the gathered audience whether they thought that voice search was generally overrated and not living up to all the hype it has increasingly attracted as more AI-assisted devices are in our homes, cars, offices, and lives in general.


How to Optimize Customer Experience with AI – Top Tips from Microsoft’s Purna Virji
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Alexis Hall

Want to Go Stress Free? Here Are 6 Reasons to Hire A Digital Marketing Agency

Alexis Hall     Digital Marketing

When to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency

From developing and executing your marketing strategy to measuring results, your plate always has a healthy heaping of responsibilities—all of which are likely served with a side of stress from time to time.

If you’re nodding your head in agreement, you’re certainly not alone. A couple years ago, Workfront released its Marketers Stress Report revealing that 80% of marketers feel they have too few team members and too much work. Furthermore, 1 out of 4 marketers said they were “overly stressed” or “stressed to the max.”

Fast-forward to today, the stress factor still remains as marketers contend with a myriad of challenges, from lack of internal resources to adapting to the changing digital landscape. The good news, of course, is that a digital marketing agency (like TopRank Marketing) can lend a helping hand.


Want to Go Stress Free? Here Are 6 Reasons to Hire A Digital Marketing Agency
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Nick Nelson

How Brands Can Avoid the Dreaded Fauxthenticity Pitfall

Nick Nelson     Content Marketing, Digital Marketing

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Fauxthenticity

Let’s be real for a second here.

Today’s marketers and brands are collectively recognizing the need to strike a note of authenticity with their audiences. That’s excellent.

But in the quest to get real, it’s all too easy to wind up making the exact opposite impression by trying too hard, especially on social media channels.

When I think about this subject I’m always reminded of Steve Buscemi’s attempt to conform with school kids on the TV show 30 Rock:

via GIPHY

So, we should ask ourselves: How can we, as businesses, avoid this “fauxthenticity” pitfall? How can we overcome the inherent barriers that inhibit genuine connections between brand and customer? How can we speak the language of our audience without looking like we’re trying really hard to speak their language?


How Brands Can Avoid the Dreaded Fauxthenticity Pitfall
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Lee Odden

Stop Gambling with Your Marketing and Go Pro with Tips from Ten Pubcon Pro Speakers

Lee Odden     Digital Marketing, Pubcon

Pubcon Pro

In the fast paced world of search and digital marketing, what separates amateurs from professionals often comes down one simple distinction: marketing as a gamble or marketing as a planned, measured and iteratively optimized discipline.

There are far too many marketing campaigns being implemented simply because “that’s how we’ve always done it”, as a reaction to the competition and as a limitation of the in-house team tasked with execution. Professional marketers go beyond wishful thinking and hopes of “better luck next time”.

So, what does it mean to be a “professional”?

Being a professional in any industry represents a combination of characteristics including:

  • Specialized knowledge
  • Competency
  • Honesty and Integrity
  • AccountabilitySelf-Regulation

Marketing professionals represent these things and more:

  • Creativity

Stop Gambling with Your Marketing and Go Pro with Tips from Ten Pubcon Pro Speakers
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